This novel in verse follows a wrongfully convicted black teen in juvenile detention.

At Amal's trial, his character witness is his art teacher who is very hard on him and does not understand who he is. Since the person he "hit" is still in a coma and can't speak to the incident he is convicted and sent to juvenile detention. The guards are not supportive and Amal is trying hard not to go crazy in a place where he shouldn't even be.

I'm so glad this book exists. It tells a story beyond what I'm familiar with reading. It's a necessary read and a beautiful book. The pure lyricism on each page leads the reader through tribulations of a young man being put through the system where many of the other inmates look like him or feel like more than a statistic within the system. I looked forward to reading this and I am glad for the opportunity to read and review such a wonderful and moving book.

"But here and now
it's not a classroom, it's a cell block
it's not a restroom, it's open stalls and showers
it's not a lunch room, it's the mess hall
it's not friends, it's inmates, felons, and delinquents

If I squint
I almost can't tell the difference"

This book is absolute necessary reading for teachers and anyone who wants to call themselves an ally. Amal's story is gut-wrenching and all too real, as Dr. Salaam can attest. We must do better.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me an e-arc of the book. I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audiobooks of Punching the Air, and really appreciated the prose and verses and how it was not just a novel.
I find myself wishing I had this when I was younger, and how important this is now as a black person in America.

Excellent verse novel for teens, bringing awareness to wrongful incarceration and humanizing young people held in juvenile detention. The fact that Zoboi writes this in partnership with Dr. Salaam makes the story much more powerful, and I look forward to reading an afterword written specifically by him, something not provided in the advance copy. Amal was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and while he admits to throwing the first punch, he doesn't believe he should be locked up for the altercation with a white boy. The story illustrates how creativity and hope can save a person from despair, the prejudice and racism with which we treat inmates, how we can support young people in prison and also perhaps work against the prison-industrial complex and the school-to-prison pipeline. I wish there was more for students to read about these structural issues after they've been affected by Amal's story.

This novel is about a young man’s struggle to be a young black body in a world that is not set up for your success. A life upended by one moment gone terribly awry, with no way to prove the narrative falsely. Punching the Air is a glimpse into Amal Shahid's life after that terrible incident leaving a young white body in a coma. A brilliant artist and poet who has bared his spirit and thoughts through words and pictures not everyone can comprehend or chooses to. A story of young man in a juvenile penal system fighting against the urge to accept the hand he’s been dealt and figuring out how to use the rage that has been built up inside of him. A young mother that has fought to make a good life for her child and prepare him for the reality of what it means to be cautious in a world where nothing will ever come easy. Punching the Air, does a commendable job of exploring the complexities of an existence that a large fraction of the population experiences and bringing some awareness to the forefront of those that never will.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.

This novel in verse is incredible, and yet, soul crushing at the same time.

Written in collaboration with Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated five, this poignant and timely novel draws on Salaam's experiences to shape the main character, Amal, a boy in the wrong place at the wrong time whose bright future is upended. As he is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison, his rage and despair sink in. Only when he gets back to his core, his art and the use of his words, is he able to change his story.

The poetry in this story is a work of art. Such a timely and important piece.

This novel in verse follows Amal. He has been accused and convicted of beating a white boy—Jeremy—into a coma. He did throw the first punch. He doesn’t deny that. Jeremy didn’t want people from Amal’s neighborhood on “his” basketball court. But...Amal did not throw the last punch. Amal saw things were going wrong, and Amal went home.

But he’s still in jail. He is still needing to find himself, his art, in the box that society has put him in.

A powerful novel.

Ibi Zoboi teams up with Yusef Salaam (one of the now-exonerated Central Park Five) to deliver a novel in verse about a young Black boy falsely convicted and sentenced to serve in a juvenile detention facility. Amal Shahid is a skater, a sensitive artist, and a poet, but the American justice system only sees him as an angry, violent thug, older than his years. While incarcerated, Amal uses his artistry and voice to keep himself sane in the face of brutality and dehumanization.

Punching the Air covers crucial topics-- America's broken justice system, racism, modern-day slavery upheld by the 13th Amendment-- and does so beautifully through moving poetry. Amal is a fully-realized, dynamic, and sympathetic character. However, I wish the story had been better developed; the narrative lacked direction and the ending was abrupt. This felt like a book that was written to make a point, rather than a story that conveys a message. Still a wonderful and important book, and absolutely worth the read.

TW: racism, N word, brutality inflicted by guards

This was powerful and beautifully written, and it carries both the weight and the lived experience of Yusef Salaam's life. I love Amal as a character and a narrator, and this is the sort of book that makes me want to go out and do more work to educate myself - art and poetry and prison abolition. An excellent novel in verse, an Own Voices story in a voice that I have never read before, and a very well done story.

Powerful and captivating, this is a book that young people will love. Readers who enjoyed Long Way Down will want to read this tragic, nuanced account of a teenager wrongfully incarcerated.

Amal is 16 year old and after being convicted of a crime he didn't commit, is sentenced time in a juvenile detention center. This stunning verse novel chronicles Amal's time in the center with just lyrical grace that it becomes hard to put down. At times, this novel is hard to read, but it is very important, as it discusses race, the justice system, and all of the inequality found in society today. This book will definitely resonate with all kinds of readers and will be vital read for years to come.

This a truly powerful and emotional book that is a must read for adults and teens alike.

This book was a reminder of the systematic racism that lies within society. It shows how Black males are judged before they even get a chance to explain. They are judged by actions that are misinterpreted and crucified before clear understanding.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the eARC, as this has been on my most-anticipated list this year! Written by the incomprable Ibi Zoboi with Dr. Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, this novel in verse is POWERFUL, Rarely do authors get to have a say in their cover, but they managed to convey such emotion just with that image alone. I'm already ordering a set to use with our English 1 teachers, as there is so much for students to unpack, discuss, write about, and grapple with. I appreciated most of all that Amal's story is so nuanced and emotionally raw, dealing with such humanity and powerful, real, themes, and leaving space for readers to form opinions and sit and think about what's happening in the story, all the way to the end. A top pick of the year and likely making next year's ProjectLit list.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was a teenager during the trial and conviction of the Central Park case. I remember listening to how people outside my home talked about how “those kids” deserved what they got after what they did. Yet in my own home, I watched my mother shake her head in frustration and shared her disgust in conversations with friends. I was so far removed from New York living in the Midwest I didn’t understand the bigger picture at the time. I would understand later.

Therefore, when I saw a young adult book written by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam one of the men who is now known as “one of the exonerated five”, I needed to read it. The story isn’t about the Central Park case. However, it is about the number of young men of color who are unjustly imprisoned. Sixteen year-old Amal, a poet and an artist, has hopes and dreams of one day sharing his art with the world. Instead a fight with a white kid has the possibility to change the trajectory of his life if proven guilty. A powerful and moving novel told in verse. It offers a look at the injustices often present in the American criminal justice system, the ways that young people can be terrorized within juvenile detention centers, and the systemic racism that forces them into silence and defensive behavior.

This book was emotional and full of content that needs to be shared so the world can at some point begin to see what it is doing to some of its people. However, the writing was a bit rough and jumpy for me. Some of it simply didn’t flow well. However, spreading knowledge is always much more important than how it is written. Therefore, I would be happy to recommend this book to readers.

A novel in verse, written in captivating language, drawing the reader into the characters life, even before one realizes, they are so deeply entrenched in the story of a young teen wrongfully accused of murder.

The two authors teamed together to create a powerful, beautiful, authentic work. The raw emotion felt on the pages comes from its lyrical text and powerful symbolism. This not-to-be-missed novel-in-verse will pair well with nonfiction pieces in high school classes.

Thank you Balzer + Bray and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was so happy to receive this book since I love books written in verse and have enjoyed Pride by Ibi Zoboi. This story really fit into the stories we are seeing on the news and made the story feel so real. The writing was so lyrical and worked with all my senses that put me right into the story. I could not recommend this title enough. I would really like a sequel to see where our lovely and artistic character is now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins for the ARC.

Reading does not occur in a vacuum. I can't pretend that there weren't many outside events that affected my reading experience of this book. This book made me feel angry, frustrated, heartbroken, and hopeful all at once.

Anger at the American justice system, which is not just at all, most especially to Black men and boys. While reading Punching the Air, I have also been listening to The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Amal's experience (and that of Yusef Salaam in real life) are portrayed almost exactly in The New Jim Crow. We have a justice system that rewards Black people for falsely declaring guilt and punishes them for telling the truth. A system that targets Black people because of false data and learned prejudice.

Frustration because, as we have seen over and over again in 2020, nothing has changed. The Exonerated Five, innocent Black boys, were targeted by a racist policing system in 1989. In 2020, innocent Black men are still being targeted by racist police. Most recently Jacob Blake, who fortunately was not killed, but may remain paralyzed for the rest of his life.

Heartbroken because for Black people the pain never ends. I found out about the death of Chadwick Boseman while I was finishing this book, and while it was very difficult for me to read about a Black man stolen in his prime from a vicious disease, I can't even imagine how painful it is for Black people to suffer yet another loss. This year alone has taken Kobe Bryant, John Lewis, and now Chadwick Boseman. All beacons of hope for not just Black people but for the world.

Hopeful because this book is necessary. It is important. It will be life-changing to some. It is beautiful and lyrical and so, so timely. It is personal but also universal. It is full of despair but also full of Amal's truth. His truth is that he is innocent, and it is one thing that keeps him going.

There were many lines that jumped out at me where I knew whatever Amal was going through at that moment, it was also something that Dr. Salaam had experienced during his time of being unjustly imprisoned. There are lines that are so poignant that I know only a person who has gone through was Amal and Dr. Salaam went through would be able to write such powerful words.

I am glad this book exists and that hopefully many people will read these words, but I am also sad that we live in a world where this book must exist. It is impossible to read this book and not also consider how the same things that happen in the book happen to Black people in the real world. Are still happening every day. But it is also impossible to forget that every day there are people fighting and working and protesting to end the violence and police brutality that Black people have fought against for hundreds of years.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone.

I can understand why this new YA free verse book is a bestseller, an exploration of a system that is built to break young Black men down but no one accounted for hope, love and art. Masterful and hard-hitting, one of the best books of the year #pernillerecommends